David’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Monday, May 18, 2009
Location:   Oswego, New York
Coordinates:   43° 27.181′ N  76° 30.391′ W

We were in Erie Canal Lock #7. Kathryn and Ayla were handling the lines, which they have done a masterful job of during our entire transit. I was at the controls on the flybridge, helping to keep the boat against the wall and stationary. During the peak of the turbulence, this meant shifting into forward, then neutral, then reverse, then neutral, then forward, then neutral, then reverse, etc., while also using the bow-thruster. Some locks required more powered assistance than others, and this one seemed to be requiring the most so far. We were about finished with the worst of it when I tried to shift from forward to neutral, and SNAP!, the steel control cable broke.

We have Morse mechanical shift and throttle controls aboard Three@Sea. The controls on the flybridge have cables that run to the controls in the pilothouse. The controls in the pilothouse then have cables that go to the engine and transmission. This master/subordinate arrangement makes the controls on the flybridge pretty tight because they’re pushing the controls in the pilothouse, which in turn push the actuators in the engine room. I’m still investigating the cause of the failure, but currently is looks like the stress eventually fatigued the metal in the shift cable where it attaches to the control lever.

When the cable snapped, the boat was in forward. I mentally assessed my options, and decided to scurry down the pilothouse and use those controls to put the boat into neutral. If that didn’t work, I would have to shut off the engine. I didn’t have time to explain to Kathryn and Ayla what was going on, but the boat was creeping forward while they tried to hold it in place, and they were wondering why I was going forward — it was not a good situation. We were in the lock alone, so we wouldn’t have run into any boat ahead of us, but it was still a potentially dangerous situation. Fortunately the controls in the pilothouse worked, and I was able to put the boat into neutral. Whew!

During the next leg of the canal, Kathryn piloted while I crawled under the flybridge dashboard and evaluated the failure. The cable broke right at the control. It didn’t look like it would interfere with the controls in the pilothouse, so we just finished the day piloting from the inside. We were thankful that a potentially dangerous failure didn’t cause serious problems.

Now what? I didn’t have a spare cable aboard, and I wasn’t confident that the small local marine supply stores would stock a replacement. I decided to order one and have it delivered to my cousin Jon, with whom we planned  to rendezvous in a couple of days at Sylvan Beach. Nordhavn is very helpful in these situations, as they will usually ship a part overnight to wherever we are. Now we just had to determine the length of the cable: Nordhavn was pretty sure it was 17′, but my on-board measurements couldn’t find any more than 15′. I (foolishly) decided to override Nordhavn and have a 15′ cable shipped to me.

We drove from the pilothouse for the next two days on our way to Sylvan Beach, transiting another fifteen locks. It wasn’t as easy to pilot through the locks from inside, but I got used to it pretty quickly. I also had to anchor both nights, and dock in Sylvan Beach the third night from inside the pilothouse. In retrospect, I think it was the Universe forcing me to learn how to do close-quarters maneuvering from inside the pilothouse so I would have the experience when I needed it.

My cousin Jon met us on Thursday evening in Sylvan Beach, and he brought the replacement cable with him. My Dad was visiting, and he was going to assist with the repair on Friday morning. We cracked open the upper dashboard Friday morning to assess the difficulty, and staring me in the face was a 20-inch jog in the cable as it passed from the floor of the flybridge to the cable-run in the pilothouse. I made an incorrect assumption that it went straight down, which is why I couldn’t find more than 15′ of cable when I measured. I ordered the wrong cable. Rats! I was about to get on the phone with Nordhavn parts again when Kathryn suggested I try to source the cable locally. I scoffed at this idea at first, but her suggestions usually bear fruit, so I decided to try. I went on the Internet to find out who carried Morse control cables in the area, and I found the Brewerton Boat Yard. Sure enough, they had a 17′ cable in stock. Not only did they have the cable I needed, but since they stock several lengths of this kind of cable, they took my 15′ cable as a trade-in, having me pay only the difference. Wow! As Ayla would say, I want to give a “shout out” to Wayne at the Brewerton Boat Yard — what a nice guy, and what great customer service!

I’ve had the cable on board since Saturday, but I couldn’t do the repair until today because it’s been raining (and I’ve also been socializing with family and friends). We finished the Erie and Oswego Canals yesterday, and today I was able to do the repair. I spliced the new cable to the old cable, and Kathryn and Ayla helped me pull it through all the twists, turns, tubes, and holes. This worked very well, and it made phase one easier than I imagined. Then I had to hook it up to both controls and adjust the length. Unfortunately, the only way to adjust the length is to completely connect it, try it, and then completely disconnect it, which is very inconvenient. I estimated the proper length adjustment on the first try, but it took two more tries to get it right. I’m glad this repair is behind me. We are now ready to enter Lake Ontario, and our flybridge is once again fully operational. Yeah!

The flybridge controls are still quite stiff, so I’m going to do some post-mortem analysis to evaluate how to improve them, otherwise it will eventually fail again in the same way. Some will suggest that we install electronic controls, and we may have to consider them, but I personally like the feel of mechanical controls (as well as their lightening-proof nature). But in the near term, I’m happy it’s all working again, and I’m grateful this was another learning opportunity that ended well.